KOTA KINABALU: The United Kingdom has undertaken initiatives to support Malaysia in the area of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

Its High Commissioner to Malaysia, Victoria Treadell, said the support was part of the UK’s effort to continue to be Malaysia’s partner of choice in education.

“There are about 17,600 Malaysian students in the UK, which is the second largest foreign body after China and ahead of India.

“Therefore, under our ongoing ‘Education is GREAT’ campaign, we are making UK expertise in education and training accessible to Malaysia at national and state levels,” she said.

Treadell said this to reporters at the opening of the Sabah TVET Seminar here yesterday. The seminar was opened by Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Mary Yap Kain Ching.

The High Comissioner also said that she was impressed with Sabah’s current development and was pleased to work with the state government on human capital development through the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA).

“The UK can share its expertise in developing skills and competencies for the sectors, which account for a total of 114,000 jobs required by the Sabah Development Corridor,” she added.

Yap said TVET could create a modern technical and entrepreneurial workforce for rapid industrialisation and global development.

She also said that universities should form collaborations with industries to enable capable graduates to enter the work market. — Bernama